The other Abby
by Fenedra
Summary: We travel down a different timeline where Nick and Stephen are alive, Jenny was never Claudia and Captain Becker and Sarah have already joined the team. This time however, it was Stephen who stepped through an anomaly to his own time, only to find no Abby
1. Chapter 1

**The other Abby.**

~Chapter One: It begins, again.~

'Abby... Abby!' He grabbed her by the arm and swung her round. 'Oh my God, Abby.' The tall man flung his arms around the startled girl, lifting her briefly off the ground. 'I can't believe it is you.'

'Hmpf,' the girl mumbled into the man's leather coat as he held her tight. After a few seconds he looked down at her, smiling in broad relief and kissed her.

'Oy!' the young woman said, pushing him away. 'I like a good kiss as much as the next girl, but I prefer to have some idea who I'm kissing.'

The man stepped back and frowned. 'Abby, it's me Stephen. You don't remember, do you?'

'It's not that I don't remember,' she said. 'I have never seen you before.'

'No...' he whispered. 'This can't be... I've been looking for you for months!'

'I'm sorry but you have me mistaken for someone else.'

'No,' he said, running a hand through his hair. 'No it is you. Your name is Abigail Maitland, you are a zoologist specialized in lizards. You are a gymnast,' he told her insistently as if he tried to convince her this was true. 'And... ehm ... you like yoga and kick boxing!'

'Look...' the girl started, looking bewildered. 'I don't know how you know all that, apart from the zoo thing, which is just weird, but I promise you, we have never met.'

Stephen closed his eyes and sighed. He looked so devastated that the girl relaxed a little and placed a hand on his arm.

'It's okay, you just... have the wrong girl. It's nothing to worry about. Happens all the time.'

'I don't,' he said, his voice sounding a little pained. 'Things have ... changed. We used to know each other in a different ... time.'

'That is impossible,' Abby said with a small laugh.

'The scar!' Stephen exclaimed. 'The scar on your arm, you needed stitches!' He grabbed Abby's right arm and rolled up her sleeve. Her skin was even and unmarked apart from a tiny lizard tattoo on the inside of her wrist. 'You needed eighteen stitches,' he whispered softly, his voice on the brink of breaking. 'We joked about it because eighteen...'

'... is my lucky number.' Abby finished, her eyes wide, while rolling down her sleeve again. 'What is going on?'

'You'll never believe me,' he whispered, sounding desperate.

Abby was silent, staring at the man before her. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair again. There was something about him... she ought to be scared and trying to get away but against all reason she wanted nothing more at this moment than to trust him.

'I don't know what it is about you... eh, Stephen, did you say your name was?'

'Steve... you aways call me ... used to call me, Steve.'

'Steve, I don't know why but I want to believe you. I really do.' She looked up, trying to catch his gaze. 'It's just impossible. You understand? We never met. I would never forget a person completely, would I? And I am not a zoologist, I am a nurse. I have always been fascinated by lizards yes, although it beats me how you know that.' She sighed, weighing her words. 'Why don't we... Christ, what am I doing? I can't believe I am going to say this.' Abby straightened her back as if making up her mind. 'Why don't we go back to my place, it is right around the corner. We can have a drink and talk about this. Okay?'

'I should really... you're not the same Abby. I shouldn't interfere with your life.'

'It's a bit late for that. Come on, you look like you could use a drink.'

'All right.'

'It's just down the street, this way.' Abby gave him a sideway glance. 'I must be going nuts,' she muttered.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, the street already darkening with the falling night, until Stephen snorted.

'What?' Abby asked.

'It's like the ambulance thing all over again.'

'Ambulance thing?'

'Yes you, eh... the Abby I knew, was hurt and needed to be taken to hospital. They gave you - her some heavy painkillers and things were said and done but you didn't remember afterwards. Only this is ten times worse. At least you knew who I was then.'

'Here we are.' Abby pointed at a white door and walked up the steps to open it. 'Please come in. Go right up the stairs, I'll fix us some drinks.'

Stephen took the stairs two at a time and stepped into a large living room. He took it in for a moment, standing very still. It was her, he knew it. Her hair might be brown and longer now, her house might be too clean and without pets, but it was Abby. There were photographs of her and her parents, friends and other people and Stephen walked around to look at them.

'Here you go,' Abby said behind him. 'I hope you like wine.'

'I do,' he smiled and took the glass from her. 'No pictures of Jack...' he said, while they both walked over to the white couch. Abby took out two coasters and placed them on the large wooden coffee table.

'Jack?' she asked, one eyebrow raised.

'Your baby brother Jack...' Stephen said slowly.

'Nope.' Abby said, looking satisfied, as if this piece of wrong information was a relief. 'I have no brother, my parents disappeared when I was very young.' She smiled sadly. 'So I know what it is like to look for someone for a long time. But you must have the wrong person after all. I'm not a zookeeper either and the Abby you know obviously is.'

Stephen frowned again.

'Now are you going to tell me what this is all about?' Abby asked him. She turned toward him and sipped from her wine.

'I want to Abby,' he said and the way he said her name made her shiver. 'I really do but I'm afraid you'll think I'm crazy.'

'It's already too late for that, so you may as well...' she told him, but she smiled and Stephen smiled back.

'I suppose so,' he took a deep breath. 'Where do I start...'

'You spoke of a different time... try and explain that first.'

'Okay, ehm...' he pulled one knee up and rested his elbow on it, considering how to make all this madness sound acceptable. 'You've heard of legends like the monster of Loch Ness,' he started, his blue eyes lighting up. 'Myths like Saint George and the dragon,' he leaned forward in excitement. 'David and Goliath!'

'Yes of course I have,' Abby said, frowning slightly.

'Just... imagine for a moment that every beast that has ever been mentioned in legend, isn't legend. It is real.'

'Right... I'll try,' the girl said, nestling deeper into the couch.

'Now imagine there are anomalies, ruptures in time that create a passage between the past, the present and the future and that the beasts of these legends have accidentally wandered through them. The Loch Ness monster is really a dinosaur that lived millions of years ago, same with George's dragon. They just happen to be in the wrong time.'

Abby pursed her lips. 'If such a thing was possible, it would definitely explain the Loch Ness monster and other sightings that have been recorded in the past but what does this have to do with me?'

'I'm getting to that. If I tell you that these ruptures exist, if I tell you I can prove it, will you take my word for it for now and accept it to be true?'

'You are asking a lot Stephen... Steve.'

'I know.'

'Okay, lets say you are right. Let's say the curtain of time is torn. Go on...' She looked at Stephen expectantly. 'What? What now? Why are you smiling?'

'You've used that expression before, curtain of time, when we first met. I never forgot because it is so accurate.'

'This is insane...' Abby downed her wine in one gulp. 'Okay, so rips in time. Got it. Please tell me why you are sitting here on my couch thinking I'm someone else.'

Stephen took a deep breath. 'The government has known about these anomalies for years. I am part of a team of scientists that detects them and tries to prevent anything from coming through.'

'Surely you can't hush up something that big?' Abby exclaimed with a laugh. 'I mean literally, dinosaurs?'

Stephen leaned forward, his eyes glowing with intensity. 'You remember the escaped elephant on the M25?'

'Yes...' Abby's eyes widened. 'There was a rumour it was a...'

'Mammoth.' Stephen finished.

'Oh my God.'

'The disgruntled employer with an axe at the golf course six months ago?'

'Ick. Do I even want to know?'

'Pterosaurs.'

'All right, all right! Say I believe you. What do I have to do with this?' There was a note of impatience and anger in her voice now.

'Okay,' Stephen said, and he started to talk very quickly. 'Just over a year ago, you were part of that team. You worked for a local zoo at the time and you rescued a boy that had gotten lost in the forest of Dean. That is how you got the cut on your arm. But one day I stepped through an anomaly to chase ... someone and something went wrong. I have been trying to work out what... but I still don't know. When I stepped back through to the present, you were gone. Neither Nick, Connor nor Jenny had ever heard of you. There were a whole load of people I had never seen before... who knew me. They were there, waiting for me. All working for something called the ARC, an organization that didn't exist in my timeline. I have been trying to find you ever since.'

A deep silence fell. Abby started at the man before her, who was so convinced of his story she almost believed it. He watched her, waiting for any kind of reaction but none came.

'Abby?'

'Yes?'

'Say something.'

She glanced at the coffee table, where Stephen's wine glass stood untouched. Abby grabbed it and drank it in one great gulp. Spluttering and coughing she put the glass back down and still Stephen waited.

'You said,' she began hoarsely before clearing her throat. 'You said I disappeared. But I didn't. I am _here_.'

'Living a different life. No zoology, no brother.' Stephen took hold of her hand and ran his thumb over the small lizard tattoo. 'This is new too.' He sighed. 'Do you believe me?'

Abby stared at the little tattoo she had gotten in an act of rebellion.

'I believe... that you believe what you say is true. But Steve, imagine you were in my shoes...'

'And some lunatic comes up to me and spins a fantastic story like that. I know.'

'No, I don't think you are a lunatic.' Abby frowned in thought. 'You said you could prove it to me. The anomalies.'

Stephen lifted his head with a sudden jerk, gripping Abby's hand tightly.

'Abby, that is dangerous.'

'If all you said is true then I am sure it is. But what do you want from me? You can't come here telling me all this, expect me to smile and nod and then continue as if nothing happened. If the Abby you told me about is anything like me, you'll know I'm stubborn.'

'Oh yes,' Stephen smiled. 'Like a pit bull with bone.' He hesitated. 'There _is_ an anomaly right now, nothing has stepped through so far...'

'Great!' Abby jumped to her feet. 'Let's go then!'

'What, now?' Stephen followed her to the door. 'Abby, it's late!'

'Yeah, like I am going to sleep tonight.'

'True. Ehm, Abby...'

'Yes?' she turned as she shrugged into her coat.

'You might want to change your shoes, the Permian period is not exactly a high heels kind of place.'

'Right. Of course.' Abby swallowed hard, kicked off her shoes and put on a pair of hiking boots. When she was about to tie her laces, she noticed Stephen looming over her.

'What?' she demanded when she noticed his grin.

'Want me to tie 'em for you?'

'I am _quite_ capable of tying my own shoes thank you very much,' she told him sharply.

'I know, I know. Sorry. It used to be a running joke, I had to tie your shoes a few times because of your arm.'

Abby jumped to her feet. 'Listen mister,' she said, poking him in the chest with a pointy finger, forcing him to take a step back. 'I don't know what went on between you,' she poked him again forcing him further back. 'And ... eh, the other Abby, but there will be no more hand holding, kissing or shoe tying all right?' And with a last prod Stephen had backed up all the way against the wall.

'All right,' he said, trying hard not to grin, while rubbing the sore spot on his chest. 'You have a car?'

'Sure I do.' Abby said while opening the door.

'Let me guess... a mini cooper?'

Abby whirled around in the middle of the stairs, looking up at him. 'How did y... never mind.' She stomped loudly down the stairs and disappeared into the garage.

'I'll drive,' Stephen said, reaching for the keys.

'No you won't!' said Abby. 'I might still rethink my stance on the whole lunatic business. You just tell me where to go.' She took a seat behind the steering wheel. 'Tying my shoes... honestly.' She mumbled, pulled out of the garage and waited for his instructions. 'Where _are_ we going anyway?'

'The forest of Dean.'

'So there is this portal to another time in the middle of a forest and no one accidentally wanders through it?'

'Oh I am sure a lot of unsolved disappearances can be explained that way. Nick, another scientist who works with us, his own wife disappeared in one before returning eight years later.'

'Eight years? She was lost for _eight years_?'

'Not lost, more like... not wanting to return.'

'How awful.'

'She didn't seem to mind...'

'No, I mean for ... Nick. He must have thought she was dead. And all that time...'

'I know. Now we have security in place until the anomaly disappears again.'

'And what do they tell people? Hey, you can't go through here, you might get eaten by a bloodthirsty but extinct dinosaur? Do you put signs down 'No trespassing, dino alert?' Abby sniggered. 'Sorry,' she said quickly when she saw the look on Stephen's face. 'Sorry, I guess I'm acting a little stupid, I'm feeling a bit giddy I suppose.'

'Understandable. Usually we tell people there is a toxic leak or something along those lines.'

'How will you get me passed them? Aren't they going to think it strange I turn up after all these years?'

'They don't know you anymore Abby, I was the only one through the portal when the change happened. I am the only one who remembers you.'

'Even I don't remember me...' Abby glanced at him. 'I'm sorry.'

'For what?'

'It must have been hard for you.'

'It was. It was strange. I felt out of place for a very long time.'

They drove in silence for a while, only broken by Stephen's directions and one stop for petrol. It was passed midnight when Abby parked the car near the entrance to the forest and Stephen flicked on a flash light.

'Ready?' he asked her.

'I guess so...' Abby said, looking apprehensively at the looming dark forest and then they set out into the trees.


	2. Chapter 2

~Chapter Two: the anomaly.~

_ 'I can't believe it...'_

'Isn't it beautiful?'

'It's amazing.' The portal glimmered with a brilliance that nearly blinded both of them. Diamond like shards slowly revolved around each other. 'It is like they are fragments of time itself,' Abby said, reaching out. She didn't see Stephen jolt when she said this, but he had no time to react because Abby was already stepping forward.

'Wait,' he said. 'Are you sure you want to do this?'

'Are you kidding me? Of course I do. At the risk of walking into an elaborate candid camera trap... You can't bring me this far and expect me to back off now. Just five minutes, I don't plan to go on a two week holiday to the past.'

'Let me go first,' he said, pulling out a gun from beneath his jacket. 'Just in case there is something on the other side.' He nodded at the guard who stood outside the perimeter. 'We won't be long,' he told him.

'On your own head it be, Sir.'

Abby stared at the weapon. She couldn't believe he had been sitting on her couch with a gun in his pocket. 'Is that really necessary?'

'Better safe than very, very sorry,' he told her and he stepped forward into the light, vanishing out of sight. Abby stared around, paralyzed with shock at his disappearance for only a second, before hurrying after him... into bright sunlight.

'Oh.'

'I know.'

'I... I can't...'

'I know.'

'Where... is the night gone? And the trees?'

'They are still millions of years away.'

Abby pointed into the distance. 'Is that a...?' she asked, unable to finish the sentence.

'Dimetrodon to be exact. Don't go to close, he would consider you a hearty snack.'

'I see.' Abby took an small step closer to Stephen. 'My God, it is all true isn't it.'

'It is.'

Abby looked at the wondrous world before her, the vast open landscape and clean, clear air.

'I am standing in the past.'

'You most certainly are.'

'I am standing on a world that is still young. No acid rain, no cars polluting the air, no humans...'

'Unbelievable isn't it.'

'It is so... beautiful.'

Stephen laughed at the expression of pure awe and amazement on Abby's face.

'You know what?' she asked, suddenly rounding on him.

'What?' he said, still smiling down at her.

'I think now might be a good time to pass out.'

Stephen could catch her just in time, before she hit the ground.

It was dark again, when Abby regained consciousness. She was wrapped in Stephen's coat and lying beside a fire. 'How did I become involved in all this?' she asked him quietly, and Stephen jumped a little at the sound of her voice as if he had been deep in thought.

'You were there from the very beginning.' A soft expression settled on his face. 'An anomaly had opened. The first we knew about. A Gorgonops had come through. While Nick and I were trying to figure out what was happening, a child had gone missing from the Zoo you worked at. A search party was formed and you were out looking for it in this forest. You found him but you found the dinosaur too. The child had a small cut in his finger and the Gorgonops had caught its blood scent, chasing both of you. You told the child to run, cut your own arm with a sharp rock, hurled it at the Gorgonops hoping it would follow you and leave the boy. It did, you ran in the other direction and straight into our party, well straight into me really. You bled all over my favorite shirt by the way. We tranquilized the beast and brought it back to its own time. You had lost too much blood however, cutting too deep in your hurry and I ended up in the ambulance with you. After that you joined as and worked with us ever since. Your knowledge of lizards and other animals was very useful.'

Abby rubbed her forehead. She felt a definite headache coming on. 'Where are we now? Where is the portal?'

'We are back in our own time. The portal is behind us, just through the trees. The guard wouldn't let me set up camp near it. '

Abby sat up and looked at him.

'I've seen the anomaly and I saw the past. I believe all that, how could I not? I mean, I was there... The strange thing is, I even wanted to work with animals when I was younger, lizards in particular... which makes all this beyond weird. But you have to understand how unbelievable it is for me to think I was someone else not long ago.'

'I know.' Stephen stared into the fire for a long time. 'I can show you something. But it might upset you.

'What, you mean more than stepping through time?'

'I think it might. I think it might be very wrong of me...'

'Please... if you can do anything to prove...'

'Abby I don't know...'

'Steve you have to. I can't go back to pretending this never happened.'

'Okay.' He reached for his back pocket and fished out his wallet. Out of it, he pulled a cheap strip of photographs taken in a photo booth. It was crumpled and a little faded. Five pictures, of him and Abby, all taken in succession. In the first they both smiled widely, in the second they pulled faces to the camera. In the third, Abby held up a small, strange looking winged lizard. In the fourth, they looked at each other and in the fifth, they kissed.

'Please,' Abby whispered, her hand reaching for the pictures. 'You have to show me.'

Stephen looked at her, his blue eyes dark in the firelight. He lifted a hand and brought it to her face. 'I'm sorry,' he whispered, stroking her cheek.

'No you have to,...'

'No, I mean I am sorry for showing you this.' And he gave her the photos.

Abby held them in her hands long after the image had become blurry. Stephen didn't take his eyes of her, but he didn't move any closer either.

'Are you all right?' he asked her eventually and Abby looked up at him.

'I can't believe,' she began, her voice catching a little. '... I haven't gone blonde before.'

Stephen's eyes widened and then he laughed loudly, something he felt he hadn't done in a long time. He turned to Abby, still smiling, when his expression froze.

'What?' Abby began, but Stephen held a finger against his lips. A deafening silence filled their ears, unnatural and daunting. Together, they turned in the direction of the portal hidden in the trees.

'Can you feel it?' Stephen whispered.

'The ground...' Abby nodded.

'Run,' Stephen hissed. 'Now!'


	3. Chapter 3

~Chapter Three: the dinosaur~

'The guard!' Abby yelled, and she came to a sudden halt. Stephen ran into her, almost knocking them both to the ground.

'What? What are you doing, keep running!' he said, pushing her forward.

'No, the guard! We can't leave him there.' Abby panted, struggling to go back. Stephen gripped her arms and forced her to look at him.

'If that beast has made it this far,' he said, shaking her slightly. 'It is too late for the guard.'

'But...' Abby looked horrified. 'You mean, he's... _dead_?' The terrible truth started to sink in.

'Yes. Now come on, run!'

The ground trembled with the force of the beast's thundering footsteps and Abby let out a little squeal when Stephen pulled her along.

'Steve,' she panted. 'Steve, wait!'

'We can't, we have to get to the car.'

'But that's just it, we should have reached it by now.'

'Shit, you're right. We're lost.'

'Oh God...' Abby's voice trembled and she brought her free hand to her eyes to cover them.

'Come on,' Stephen hissed, and he dragged her along again, while groping for his phone. 'Becker!' he yelled into it, when he flipped it open and speed dialed a number. 'Becker, we have a creature at the Dean site!' Abby looked up briefly from the dark path, while trying to keep her footing. 'Never mind what I am doing here, the guard is down and the beast is after us, send a team up here _now_!' He snapped the phone shut and pushed Abby behind a large tree.

'You have to run, just try and stick to a straight line and you will reach the other side or they will find you. Go, now.'

'What? What about you?'

Stephen pulled out his gun and crouched down. 'Take the flash light, I will see it coming in the moonlight.'

'No, I am not leaving you here alone with a frickin' _dinosaur_ for Christ's sake!'

'Abby, listen to me. This is my fault. I should never have involved you, I should have left you to your own life, I won't be responsible for something happening to you again.'

'Well it's a bit bloomin' late for that now, isn't it? I am not running away without you.'

'Too late, here it comes. Get into the tree!' Stephen grabbed Abby around the waist and heaved her up so she could reach a large, low hanging branch. Abby wrapped her arms around it and scrambled up.

'Come on Steve, give me your hand!' she called out to him, but Stephen turned away, facing the direction of the booming footfall and the rustling of bushes being trampled. Then, a sudden eerie silence fell over the forest and Abby knew they were being watched. Every night creature, every bird and insect in the area was holding still, knowing that any movement could be its last. When it almost became too much and Abby thought her lungs would explode with the air she held trapped in tension, the beast lunged from the thicket, right at Stephen. Abby screamed in terror, a shot rang deafeningly through the night and the monster reared away but in its momentum the large tail lashed out, knocking Stephen violently into the tree. The sudden silence fell again and Abby slowly released the breath she was still holding.

'Wonderful,' she muttered. 'Freakin' wonderful. What kind of knight in shining armor passes out before the dragon's dead.' Quietly, Abby swung down from the branch, hanging by the arms before dropping down. Stephen had a head wound but was already coming around.

'Are you okay?' she whispered, hovering over him. His eyes widened with dread.

'Abby...' he croaked.

She could feel it. She could feel it behind her, coming closer one careful step at a time. Abby swallowed, her heart beating so hard it might have been trying to escape from her chest. She spotted Stephen's gun on the floor.

'Don't.' Stephen said when he followed her gaze, but Abby dove for the gun. At the same time the beast sprang forward. Abby grabbed the gun, rolled to her knees and just when the creature reached Stephen, mouth agape, rows of sharp teeth exposed in the dull moonlight, she fired. The bullet buried itself deep in the creatures exposed soft neck, it howled in pain once, splattering both of them in thick blobs of sticky blood and goop before retreating a few staggering steps and then collapsing, slowly, to the ground.

Stephen stared at Abby, who was still pointing the gun to where the Dimetrodon had been. He sat up and prized her fingers loose from the weapon.

'My hero,' she told him flatly, when she finally found her voice again. 'You'd be leftovers by now if I had listened to you.'

'That was... a pretty cool move,' he told her, grinning. 'Where did you learn to do that?'

'I watch a lot of films.'

'Stephen? Sir, where are you?' A voice rang from the darkness.

'Over here!' Stephen yelled. 'We're fine.'

'Speak for yourself,' Abby muttered, plucking something green and slimy from her hair.

'What happened?' A group of five men came crashing through the trees, all wearing black uniforms and heavily armed.

'Here comes the cavalry,' Abby said.

'Late as usual,' Stephen said, smiling while clambering to his feet.

'Was there only one?' A tall man with black hair asked, while pointing his gun at the beast. He leaned forward for a closer look. 'What a magnificent specimen.'

'You can say that again,' Abby said quietly, looking the uniformed man up and down in admiration. Stephen stared at her in disbelief for a moment and she smiled sweetly at him. 'What?' she whispered. 'Look at him. _All _ of him.' The Captain straightened and turned back toward them. Stephen grunted something unintelligible and walked over to the men. 'Captain Becker,' he said when he approached them. 'We don't know if there was only one, we'll need to sweep the area.'

'Of course. That was a fine shot Stephen,' Captain Becker said, nodding toward the neck wound.

'That was me actually,' Abby said, smiling only a little smugly. 'I am Abby, nice to meet you.' She reached out a hand and the Captain grabbed it.

'Abby?' he said, looking questioningly at Stephen. 'As in _the_ Abby?'

'Yes,' Stephen said curtly. His mood seemed to plummet to alarming depths rapidly. 'Long story.'

'The boss is going to love this... My men will comb the forest for creatures before returning to the anomaly. I suggested you and ... ehm, the civilian return to the base for debriefing.'

'Of course, I...'

'Hang on a minute!' Abby interrupted.

'What now?' Stephen demanded.

'The guard! Are you just going to leave him there? We have to go back! What if he is injured? We have to help him!'

'Abby leave that to...'

'No,' she shrugged off Stephen's hand. 'I am nurse, I can help.'

'Ma'am,' the Captain said respectfully. 'I really think you should leave it to us. You don't know what you'll find there. There could be another one of these guys..' he jabbed his large gun at the beast. '... out there. And even if there isn't, if the guard is dead... it won't be pretty.'

'I can deal with it.' Abby said, snatching the flashlight out of Stephen's hands and setting off into what she hoped was the right direction.

Stephen and the Captain exchanged a meaningful look. 'I should have left her in the anomaly,' Stephen muttered and they both stalked off after her.


	4. Chapter 4

~Chapter Four: the intervention~

When Stephen and the Captain caught up with Abby and managed to convince her she really was going in the wrong direction, Becker held up a gloved hand before they could proceed.

'Now listen,' he said, his voice low and his dark eyes deep in shadow. 'You two will stay behind me at all times. When I tell you to run, you run. No arguing.'

'What are you looking at me for?' Abby said a little petulantly.

'Because I know your type.'

'My type? What do you mean my t...'

'The type that always argues, and this is no time or place for it. People's lives will depend on it and not just your own, so do us all a favour for one minute and shut up.'

'Yes Sir,' she said quietly.

'Now, stay behind me and give me that flashlight.' Becker grabbed it from Abby and turned it off.

'But...' Abby began, immediately closing her mouth after a piercing look from the Captain.

'That flash light yells 'come get me I'm nice and tasty'. There is enough light from the moon, just allow your eyes to adjust for a moment.' Becker turned on his heels and stalked off into the night. Stephen grabbed Abby's arm and followed him.

'Is he always so bossy?' Abby whispered.

'Shh,' Stephen replied. 'And yes.'

'I kinda like it,' Abby grinned.

Stephen rolled his eyes and released her arm. They moved slowly through the forest in silence, carefully choosing their footing on the moonlit path. There wasn't a sound apart from the wind rustling the leaves above their heads but it wasn't the unnatural stillness Abby had felt before the creature attacked. She was just about to tell them they should be there by now when the Captain held up a hand and they stopped.

'We're close, my compass is going haywire.'

'Yes,' Stephen whispered. 'There, I can see the light from the anomaly between the trees.' And then they heard it, a low rattling moan that made their blood run cold.

'It's the guard!' Abby said, and she sprinted off toward the anomaly before they could stop her.

'Stupid girl!' the Captain swore and ran after her.

A sharp pain slashed across Abby's face when a branch hit her but she ignored it. Soon she reached the anomaly and frantically searched the undergrowth. She had found a trail of blood when the other two reached her.

'Are you insane?' the Captain hissed angrily but Abby waved him away.

'There's too much blood,' she whispered. 'We don't have much time... Oh God.' She stepped back, all colour drained from her face.

'Shit,' Stephen said.

Abby only needed a second to recover. 'Call you men, now!' she barked at the Captain. 'Tell them to bring any medical supplies you have. Then call an ambulance. An air ambulance if you have one.' She knelt by the body and pulled off her coat, draping it over the guard. 'Stephen give me your coat.' When nothing happened, Abby turned around at the two men who stood frozen in astonishment. 'NOW!' she yelled. The Captain pulled out his phone and Stephen knelt beside her, handing her his jacket.

'What do you want me to do?' he asked, trying to ignore Abby taking her shirt off.

'Here,' she said, stuffing her shirt into a wad and pressing it around the wounded guard's neck. 'Press firmly, but not too firmly. He has enough trouble breathing as it is.' She turned toward to man. 'Can you hear me?' Abby asked him, wiping blood and hair from his face. The man groaned weakly. 'My name is Abby,' she continued gently. 'There is help on the way, you are going to be fine okay?' He tried to move and his breathing rattled alarmingly. 'Lay still and try not to panic,' Abby told him. The shirt she had given to Stephen was soaked with blood and he started to pull off his own to replace it.

'His pulse is very weak,' she said. 'If they don't get here soon, he won't make it.'

'Keep him alive for another few minutes, there is a helicopter on the way,' Becker told her. He shrugged out of his black jacket, kneeled beside Abby and swung it around her shoulders. 'What can I do?'

'I think he has a punctured lung,' Abby said. The cut in his neck didn't sever his windpipe but I think one of his ribs might have punctured his right lung. Do you have a knife?'

Becker pulled a large pointed knife out of his combat boot while Abby opened up the guard's coat.

'Cut open his shirt please.'

Becker did what she asked and revealed a chest that was already starting to bruise badly.

'Right,' Abby said and swallowed hard, taking the knife out of the Captain's hands. 'Anyone have a pen?'

Becker opened a black bag and handed her fountain pen.

'Wh...' Abby stared at it. 'No, a normal pen! Who the hell writes with a fountain pen these days? What do you think I'm going to do? Write a love letter?'

'Right, yes. Hang on.' The Captain rummaged through the bag, found another pen, and handed it to Abby.

'That'll do.' She unscrewed it, took out the filling and threw it to the side. All she needed was the plastic tube. 'Steve, keep applying pressure. Captain, I am going to need you to hold him still. What is his name?'

'Turner, Bill Turner.'

'Okay Bill,' Abby said, bending close to the guard's face. 'I'm going to do something to help you breathe easier okay, but it's going to hurt a little. Captain Becker is going to have to hold you down, do you hear me?' Bill nodded weakly, closing his eyes. Abby took a deep breath, counted down Bill's ribs and placed the knife point between two of them.

'Abby, what the hell are you doing?' Stephen said, his voice a little higher then usual.

'Not _now_ Steve,' Abby hissed. 'Ready Captain?' Becker nodded. 'Now!' Abby drove the knife point between Bill's ribs. Bill barely put up a struggle, the Captain hardly had to hold him down. Quickly Abby inserted the plastic pen tube and immediately heard a soft hissing of air escaping from it.

'It worked,' she sighed, sinking back down. 'Thank God. Do you have a water bottle?'

'The chopper is here,' Becker said and he signaled up with the flashlight. Soon two men descended along a rope with a stretcher. They had Bill strapped into it and lifted in no time, leaving the three sitting in a stunned silence, in the light of the anomaly. When the Captain's men arrived, Abby quickly rose to her feet, pushing her arms through the Captain's jacket and closing it.

'Abby...' Stephen began but they were interrupted.

'I just got off the phone with Sir Lester,' the Captain told Stephen. 'He wants you to go home, clean up and go to the ARC for a debriefing ASAP.'

'I'll take Abby home and then...'

'No Stephen, I'm sorry but she has to go too.'

'What? Who...'

'One of my men called in to report and mentioned her. It is out of my hands.' He turned to walk away, but changed his mind and placed his hands on Abby's shoulders. She hadn't noticed until now that she was shaking.

'You did great out there,' he told her. 'I am sorry I shouted at you earlier. You probably saved that man's life. Thank you.'

'It's eh...' Abby began, but he was already gone. She turned to Stephen. 'This isn't over yet, is it?'

'No.' He took a deep breath, ran his hands over his face and through his hair and looked at the moon. 'No, I am afraid it has only just begun.'


	5. Chapter 5

~Chapter Five: the encounter.~

Abby stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She sat cross legged on the edge of the bath, waiting for the water to heat. A loud base coming from the living room made the floor vibrate slightly, as if she hoped to drown out her own thoughts with music. There was a thin cut on her right cheekbone, a dark smear of blood on her neck and all kinds of goop she'd rather not identify in her hair. Dark circles framed her eyes and her skin was unnaturally pale. Every once in a while her gaze would move to the washing basket where her jeans and socks lay discarded in a heap, stiff and black with blood. Every time she closed her eyes a different image flashed before them. The beast's gaping maw only feet away from Stephen's face, the blood spraying out of its neck after she fired the gun, the bleeding soldier, Stephen's piercing blue eyes, Captain Becker's glowering dark ones. When the mirror had steamed up to the point she could no longer see herself, Abby rose. She adjusted the temperature of the water, switched it to run from the shower head and stripped out of her underwear. Her favorite bra, it was completely ruined. She would never get all the blood out of the white lace. Stupidly, that was the last drop. A harsh sob forced itself from between her lips and Abby clamped a hand over her mouth as if that would hold it back.

'Stop it,' she snapped to herself. 'It's just a piece of cloth.' She ran the cold tap in the sink and dumped the bra into it. Almost immediately the water turned pink. A thick tear ran down her face. 'After all that, Abigail Maitland, you are going to cry over a bra.'

But she knew that was not the real reason. She knew that crying over a bra would stop as soon as it started. If she allowed herself to think too much about all the rest however... Abby turned off the cold tap, left the bra where it was and stepped into the blissful heat of the shower.

'I'll take you home,' Stephen had told her, looking as disheveled and exhausted as she felt. There was a large streak of dark blood on his forehead, animal or human, she didn't know. 'Clean up, take your time. Have something hot to eat and to drink. I have to pick you up again later though. I'm sorry.'

'I understand,' was all Abby had said and they had driven home in silence. She had allowed Stephen to drive this time. Her hands hadn't stopped shaking ever since she had pushed the knife into Bill's side and she hadn't trusted herself to take the wheel.

Stephen had walked her to the front door, his hand on her elbow.

'I won't be long,' he had said.

'Wait, how will you get home?'

'My car isn't far from where I found ... where we met, earlier.'

'Right.' Abby could hardly believe that was today.

'Go on, go inside.'

'See you later.'

Stephen nodded and disappeared down the dark road.

Abby didn't know how long she stood, allowing the water to assault her stiffening limbs, before she groped for the shower gel. The familiar smell of mango and pomegranate cheered her up a little and by the time she had scrubbed her skin so hard it turned red, Abby felt considerably better. And suddenly very hungry. The aftermaths of shock, she thought, noticing the shaking had stopped too. She quickly shampooed her hair, rinsed off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself up with a towel. Her stereo was blurting out one of her favorite songs and Abby started to feel as if the end of the world wasn't quite so near after all. But she was so hungry! And thirsty too. Not bothering to dry off, Abby hurried out of the bathroom so she could get herself a nice, ice cold coke when she ran straight into a tall figure looming in her living room. Abby screamed, slipped on the wooden floor, dragging the other person down with her.

'Abby!' someone yelled.

'What the hell!' Abby squealed at the same time, scrambling to her feet, grabbing the edge of the slipping towel just in time. It was Captain Becker.

'Abby!' the Captain said, turning his back to the girl so fast it made his head spin. 'I'm so sorry. I ehm ... crap, sorry!' Becker looked from the floor to the ceiling and back again.

'What are you _doing_ here?' Abby demanded in a high voice. 'And how did you get in? No, hold that thought!' Abby ran down the stairs into her bedroom, toweled herself off so fast her skin felt rubbed raw, swearing under her breath the whole time. She pulled on some clothes, took a few deep breaths that did nothing to steady her and went back upstairs. Captain Becker stood by the window, with his back to the room.

'It's all right, you can turn around now.'

'Look, I'm really sorry. They asked me to come and get you. Everyone is already at the ARC, debriefing. I knocked several times, but the music...' he pointed to the stereo and Abby grabbed the remote and turned it down. 'I do that too you know,' he said.

'What?'

'Loud music, to deal ... with stuff. Anyway, I became worried when you didn't answer, so I ... kind of broke in.'

'Right... could happen to anyone. I suppose.' Abby looked Captain Becker steadily in the eye until he shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. She rolled her eyes in exasperation. 'All right. It's okay, really. I am going to go into the bathroom and brush my hair. Could you go downstairs to the kitchen and fetch me a coke from the fridge please, I am parched. Help yourself to anything you fancy. When we both reappear in this living room, we will have forgotten the whole towel incident.'

'Agreed,' he said before disappearing down the stairs. Abby walked into the bathroom, let out a deep sigh that puffed up her cheeks when she noticed her t-shirt was on backwards and inside out and closed the door.

'Another shock like that tonight and they can cart me off to hospital,' she muttered to herself. 'Although a nice dose of sedatives sounds just about perfect right now.' Abby straightened out her clothes, pulled a comb through her hair and pulled it back in a ponytail. The Captain had accidentally hit her in the face with his elbow during the scramble on the floor and her cut had started to bleed again. She wet the end of a small towel and dabbed the gash clean before returning to the living room. Becker was already sitting on the armrest of the white one seater, holding two glasses filled to the brim with coke. He had put so much ice in them the glasses had turned white with frost.

'Oh that looks fabulous,' she said, walking over and taking a glass, holding it up. 'To being oblivious.'

'I'll drink to that,' he said, smiling.

'Ah, perfect.' Abby sighed, after downing half her glass. 'I needed that.'

'Shock?' Becker asked.

'No, really? Why on earth would I be in shock?' Abby put the glass down on the coffee table and sunk into the sofa behind the Captain. 'How did you get involved in all this?' she asked him. He turned to face her and shrugged.

'It's my job I suppose. There I was, working for the counter terrorism department when I'm told I get a promotion. At first I thought they were pulling my leg, you know. I get briefed on dino's and I'm thinking - yeah right, whatever. Whoever thinks I'm going to fall for this is a real twit. Next thing I know I am running down a corridor in a museum being chased by some gigantic crocodile.'

'A gigantic crocodile... wonderful.' Abby closed her eyes. 'I can't believe this is happening. I want to wake up, preferably with a gorgeous man beside me.'

'I'm sorry you became involved Abby, we're all kind of in this by choice but you... Well, at least it will be over after tonight. I'm sure Lester just wants to hear what you have to say. He'll make you sign the Official Secrets Act and then you can carry on with your life.'

'Do you think so?'

'Hmm...' Becker said, finishing his coke. 'I think so. Come on, we should go.'

'The question is,' Abby said wearily, while pulling herself to her feet. 'Do I want to just carry on as if nothing happened?' She walked toward the stairs but Becker held her back, his face suddenly close to hers.

'That, Miss Maitland, will be up to you. But think long and hard, and not only for your own sake, before you become involved any further. Your life will never be the same. You can still turn back now.'

Abby swallowed and nodded.

'Just ... think about it. Come on, my bike is outside.'

'Bike?'

'Yes, don't worry I brought a second helmet.'

'Oh, your jacket!' Abby said, suddenly remembering. 'I got the bloodstains off the leather earlier.'

'Good, you can wear it now. It will be cold on the bike. I hope you don't mind a bit off fast driving?'

'Ehm...' Abby looked doubtful and Becker laughed.

'Come on,' he said, clapping her on the shoulder. 'You'll be fine.'


	6. Chapter 6

~Chapter Six: the others.~

The bit of fast driving turned out to be a whole lot of speeding and Becker had to prize Abby's hands from around his waist when they arrived at the ARC.

'You okay?' he asked her when he pulled the black helmet off her head.

'Mmmm,' Abby said, her eyes wide.

'You might wanna...' Becker pointed to his own hair. 'You know, redo your pony tail.'

'Oh God...' Abby quickly smoothed out her hair and took a few careful steps to follow the Captain into the building. Her legs felt a little wobbly from gripping the seat non stop for the last half hour. Once inside, the first thing she noticed was the large lettering worked into the floor reading 'Anomaly Research Centre'.

'Well, at least we know now what that stands for...'

'This way,' the Captain said. 'I guess they are all waiting for you.' He guided her into a large circular room and up a wide ramp.

'Great... can't wait.'

Becker smiled at Abby's expression. 'Don't worry, it'll be fine. Stephen will be there.'

'And that's supposed to make me feel better?'

Becker shrugged.

'Do you know ... about the other Abby?' she asked him after a moment of hesitation.

'_Everyone_ knows about the other Abby,' he said with a snort. 'Stephen spent months doing nothing but trying to convince us he was in the wrong world, can you imagine? He quietened down after that because he was in danger of being thrown off the project and into the loony bin, but I don't think he ever gave up. It was hard for him, don't get me wrong. I mean, now we kind of _have_ to believe him since you are here but, it was tough for Sarah too.'

'Sarah?'

'Yeah, his girlfriend at the time. It was so insane, you know. He steps through the portal, we're all relieved to see him safe, Sarah runs up to him and he tells her he's never seen her before, all the while demanding to know where Abby is. Sarah was crushed.'

'How awful,' Abby said, horrified.

They stepped into a sterile looking corridor. Becker led her down, past numerous identical doors before putting his hand against the last one.

'Here we are,' he said, smiling down at her. 'Good luck.' He pushed open the door.

'Wait!' Abby said in an urgent whisper. 'You're not coming?'

'No I am going to the hospital wing, to check up on Bill.'

'Is he going to be okay?'

'He'll live,' Becker said, still smiling. 'And he can thank you for that.'

'All right, well... thank you for dropping me off. Here is your coat.' She shrugged out of it but Becker stopped her.

'Keep it,' he said, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. 'Gives me a reason to come and see you again.' He gently pushed her through the door and Abby stumbled into the room, where five people sat behind a large table watching her. Abby turned around but the door had closed and the Captain was gone.

Stephen rose to his feet and came to stand beside her.

'Hi,' he said.

'Hi.' Abby stuffed her hands awkwardly in the pockets of her jeans while looking around the room. Apart from the table, twelve chairs and some sterile lighting, there was nothing in it.

'You all right?'

'Fine, yeah. Thanks.'

'Abby,' Stephen began, turning to the others. 'This is Sir James Lester, our ruthless leader,' A dark haired man stared impassively at Abby, who nodded at him. 'Next to him is Jenny Lewis our PR and general hide the shit from the public person.' A young woman with brown hair in a tight twist smiled briefly before looking down again at some papers on the table. Before Stephen could continue a young man with black hair in desperate need of a cut jumped to his feet with so much eagerness his chair fell over. He rushed around the table, stumbling over Lester's laptop bag before coming to a halt in front of Abby. He grabbed her hand in both of his and shook it eagerly. 'I'm Connor, Connor Temple. Wow. Nice to meet you Abby, we've all ehm... heard a lot about you.'

'Connor is our resident geek,' Stephen told Abby with a crooked grin and a twinkle in his blue eyes.

'More like resident genius, thank you very much!' Connor said. 'I can hack into anything, know all there is to know about dinosaurs and am basically vital to the team.'

Abby raised an eyebrow at the guy who stood beaming before her.

'Right,' she said. 'Nice to meet you too.'

'We all know who you are of course, we've heard Stephen talk about you for over a year now. I mean you're supposedly his girlf...umpf!' Stephen elbowed Connor in the stomach before casting an uncomfortable glance toward Sarah who gave Abby a less then welcome glare.

'And this is Sarah Page, Egyptologist and connoisseur of myths and legends.'

'Hi,' Abby said quietly but Sarah looked away.

'Professor Nick Cutter is another member of the team, he is at the anomaly as we speak.' Stephen finished.

'Yes, all very interesting,' Lester interrupted, sounding utterly bored. 'Miss Maitland I presume?'

'Yes,' Abby said. 'Sir,' she added in an afterthought.

'Curious. You do exist. You were right after all Stephen. There I was thinking you'd finally reached the edge of all reason. Well, I won't give up hope just yet. Miss Maitland if you don't mind, Jenny will first ask you a few questions to help you remember in detail all that happened tonight after which you will have to sign a piece of paper in which you promise to basically forget it all and you'll never talk to anyone about it, etcetera. Then you may go home.' He pushed back his chair. 'If that is all, I'll...'

'Hang on!' Stephen interrupted. 'Surely she can...'

'What?' Sarah cut in. 'Join us?'

'Cool, yeah!' Connor said, looking even happier and Abby was surprised that was even possible.

'Yes,' Stephen said, with a steady look at the dark haired girl behind the table, whose black eyes burned with anger.

Lester rolled his eyes to the ceiling. 'Oh for crying out loud...' he mumbled.

'She did save two men's lives tonight James,' Jenny said. 'Without her both Stephen and a soldier would have died.'

'Without her, they wouldn't have been at the site in the first place!' Sarah said angrily, rising to her feet.

'Without her, there would be a man dead, a creature loose and we wouldn't know about it until it was too late.' Stephen said coldly.

'Now...' Lester said, but Abby coughed quietly and they all fell silent, staring at her.

'Don't I have a say in this?' she asked, smiling sweetly.

'Yes of course,' Stephen said. 'But think about what you could do here...' Abby held up a hand and he stopped talking.

'I would like to talk to Jenny now please,' she said. 'Alone.' She added when Stephen opened his mouth again. 'Then I want to go home and either take two sleeping pills or drink myself silly, I haven't decided yet. _Then_ I am going to work tomorrow, probably with the biggest headache that ever existed while I pretend nothing happened. Then and _only_ then, if I feel up to it, I might _start_ to consider if I want to see any of you ever again.'

'All right Abby!' Connor said, and he held up a fist. Abby looked at it curiously. 'You're ... supposed to ... bump it. Never mind.' He dropped his hand.

'Sounds good to me,' Jenny said, rising from her seat with a smile. 'Shall we?' Abby followed her out of the door, catching Stephen's eye before she closed it. He smiled at her a little sadly. As soon as the door fell into the lock, she could hear four voices rise in argument. Abby turned to Jenny.

'Sounds like I made a friend in there...' she said to the young woman.

'Don't you worry about that now. Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Or something cold?'

'Coffee would be great, thanks.' Abby finally began to feel the sting of the late hour.

'Right, please come in.' Jenny said, opening another door. 'I'll be right back.' Jenny was only gone a few minutes and returned with two cups of coffee in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. The room was smaller but equally sterile. 'I know this is all very confusing for you Abby, to be honest I don't go through a single day without feeling I am losing my marbles at least twice and I have been doing this for years. Where would you like to start?'

'What do you need to know?' Abby asked her in return, taking the seat Jenny offered and gratefully folding her hands around the hot mug of steaming liquid.

'Well, I'll listen to anything you have to say. I need to know your view of what happened tonight of course.' She hesitated before placing a hand on Abby's wrist. 'And I will need to know about your encounter with Stephen too. I don't like going behind his back but he refused to talk about.'

'Maybe I shouldn't talk about it either then...' Abby said, doubtfully.

'I understand how you feel, truly I do. But I need to know he is ... stable. Too many lives depend on his capability to act rationally Abby. I hope you can see that.'

'I can, really. I just ... well let me come back to that then. I'll start with the whole going back in time thing.' Abby explained to Jenny everything that had happened from the moment they had left her car outside the forest until Bill was airlifted. At first, she hesitated a lot, having to go back to recall certain events she had forgotten to mention. But soon the words tumbled out of her mouth and she realized this was exactly what she needed. Jenny took note of everything she said, her pen still scratching the paper after Abby had stopped talking.

'Thanks Abby, that was very helpful. You were very brave you know. Not many people would have grabbed that gun and killed the creature. I know you won't like to hear this but I can see why Stephen was so set on finding you.'

'Yeah, out of all the going back in time and dinosaur business I find that the hardest to understand.'

'So how _did_ he find you?'

'I have no idea.' Abby looked at Jenny, who smiled in an understanding way. She liked Jenny. She had one of those faces you just instantly trusted. But then again, that was probably why she was good at what she did. 'Will he get into trouble?'

'Stephen? Oh I'm sure he will, but then he does on a regular basis so I wouldn't worry about it.'

The honest answer pulled Abby through her hesitation. 'I was on my way home from work, I just finished a late shift at the hospital you see. Suddenly someone grabs me saying my name over and over.' Abby explained everything to Jenny and was grateful to see she didn't write anything down.

'What I don't understand,' Jenny said when Abby finished. 'Is why it took him a year to find you. I know he found birth records, which no one else knows about by the way. Lester would have fired him there and then for using government resources to track you down. But he could never find a recent address for you. In this day and age...'

'I've been abroad,' Abby said. 'I was in New Guinea with Doctors Without Borders for a year to help set up a clinic.'

'Ah. Well, that explains it.' Jenny suddenly looked thoughtful. 'I wonder what it is...' she said, staring at the wall without really seeing it.

'What do you mean?' Abby asked her, stifling a yawn.

'I wonder what made the timeline change. What took you out of Stephen's life and away from the ARC. And why.'


	7. Chapter 7

~Chapter 7: the big question ~

The night was very dark. A moonless sky was covered with a thick blanket of clouds. There was a storm coming, he could feel it. A movement across the road made Stephen pull deeper into the shadows of the doorway in which he was waiting. Only someone who knew he was there would see his outline as he stared intently at the house where he had seen the silhouette. It had appeared at the window and Stephen couldn't shake the feeling it had retreated when he looked in its direction. His hand itched to close around the gun that was tucked in his belt behind his back, but he resisted. It was easy to become paranoid when you spent your days hunting creatures beyond anyone's imagination. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly eleven, she would be here soon. He didn't want to think about how relieved he felt when Abby's name had appeared on his phone. He knew it was absurd, she wasn't the same person, she wasn't _his_ Abby. The two weeks in which he had heard nothing from her had almost felt longer than the entire year he had spent looking for her. He thought it would have been enough to know that she existed, to know that she was happy. He had given her the time she had asked for, accepting that she might never call. But she did. And she sounded worried.

He could see her small form walk hurriedly down the street. Her shoulders were pulled up as she huddled in her jacket against the upcoming wind. The hospital was only a few streets away, but he suddenly didn't like the thought of her walking alone so late at night. He stepped out of the shadows when she was nearly at her door and Abby gave a little squeal, dropping her keys.

'Steve! Do you have to do that?' she demanded, bending to pick up her keys.

'Sorry,' Stephen grinned, not looking apologetic in the least.

'Have you been waiting long?' she asked, while trying to find the right key.

'No, not at all. Abby,' he said after a glance at the house across the street. 'Who lives across from you?'

'What?' Abby looked at the house he indicated. 'Oh, no one. It's been empty since before I bought this place years ago. Come in, it's cold out.'

They stepped over the threshold and into the hallway.

'Go on the kitchen, I'm just going to get changed.'

Stephen took a seat at the large wooden kitchen table as Abby disappeared into her room.

'This house has a strange layout,' he told her.

'Yeah, I know.' Abby replied from behind the door. 'It used to be two small apartments, I turned it into one house years ago when I bought it. The bathroom upstairs was much bigger than the one down here while this kitchen was nicer so I kind of had to work around it.' Abby reappeared, pulling a hoodie over her head.

'You did all the work yourself?' Stephen asked, a little impressed.

'Yeah, most of it. I needed some help to tear down walls and stuff but I did the rest.'

'Very nice.'

'Thanks, can I get you anything?'

'What are you having?'

'I am going to heat up some soup, I am always hungry after work. Want some?'

'Sure.'

Abby busied herself in the kitchen for a while, Stephen watching her every move. So many questions burned on his lips but he kept silent, waiting for Abby to tell him why he was there.

'Here,' she said eventually, placing two bowls and bread on the table.

'Smells delicious.'

Abby sat down, dipped her spoon in the soup and stirred it. The silence was becoming heavy and she felt Stephen's eyes on her.

'I couldn't give it a rest,' she said after a while. 'It was something Jenny said.'

Stephen frowned, this wasn't what he had expected. He leaned forward, trying to catch her gaze.

'What was?' he asked when she didn't continue.

'Jenny said she wondered why I had been taken out of the equation so to speak. Something must have happened, obviously. But I started asking myself all these questions. What on earth could be important enough about me to be worth changing? Why would ehm... your Abby, have a brother while I don't, for instance.' Abby looked up, her blue eyes suddenly boring into Stephen's. 'I need you tell me everything about her,' she said. 'About her family. You see, I spent so long trying to figure out what happened to mine... this might actually explain something. Anything, I need to...'

'Know what happened.' Stephen finished her sentence. 'I can understand that.' He sighed and closed his eyes. 'Abby never talked about her family much, I didn't know about Jack until he just showed up one day. She never mentioned her parents but she never gave any reason to make us think they weren't around.'

'So you don't know who raised her?'

'No.'

'But she never mentioned her parents vanishing.'

'No. No she didn't.' His eyes narrowed. 'What do you know about your parents disappearing?'

'Not much. The police never came up with any clues. I was found in an empty car not far outside the city. The lights were still on, the engine was running but no sign of my parents. They never solved it and they never could come up with a good explanation. My aunt and uncle raised me. My aunt was a nurse, who was allergic and afraid of anything with more than two legs, that is why I was never allowed to have any pets.' Abby grinned. 'That is the reason I got this when I was sixteen.' She pointed at the small lizard on her wrist.

'I'm sorry Abby, I'm so sorry.' Stephen said.

Abby smiled weakly. 'Its okay. It is a long time ago. I never stopped thinking about them though...'

'No, of course not.'

'I suppose I'll never know, but I just wondered why your Abby lived such a different life while everything else is the same.'

'I know, I've asked myself that question a million times. So your parents basically vanished into thin air?' he asked her.

'Yes.'

Stephen stared out of the window into the darkness where the wind picked up speed.

'I only know of one other person who did that...' he said thoughtfully and Abby frowned.

'Who?

'Helen Cutter. Professor Cutter's wife.

'What...' Abby went white. 'You mean ... you think my parents went through an anomaly? But that doesn't make any sense! No one in their right mind would leave a baby in a car by the side of the road with the engine running!' she said angrily.

'Unless they had no choice.'

'What?'

Stephen put his hand on her wrist, his mind briefly on the figure he had seen outside.

'Abby, what if someone made your parents disappear to ensure you would never join us? To make sure you never have anything to do with the ARC because you will influence it in a way that will mess up whatever they have planned?'

'What? But who would benefit from that?'

'Someone who has seen a future where you prevent them from succeeding.'

'That sounds really farfetched Steve, why not just take me as a baby and not my parents?'

'I have no idea...' he said. He was about to say something else when his phone rang.

'Yes? ... I'm on my way.' He looked at Abby. 'We have another one.'


	8. Chapter 8

~Chapter 8: the predator ~

'We'll take my car!' Stephen yelled over the howling of the wind. 'Yours will just be blown off the road!'

'Fine with me!' Abby yelled back. The wind snatched at her clothes, whipping her hair harshly around her face. Thick droplets of rain started to pelt down and Stephen grabbed Abby's hand.

'This way!' he yelled, laughing and they set off in a sprint. He felt the exhilarated excitement that always coursed through him when the call of a new anomaly came. What would come through this time? Or better said, _when_ would come through this time? But there was more to it now. Abby was with him again. He had asked if she wanted to come, and without a moment's hesitation she had said yes. He tried not to dwell on how that made him feel. They reached the car and he pulled open the passenger door so Abby could climb in.

'Nice ride,' she told him, breathing hard.

'Thanks,' he grinned when slammed his own door shut. He started up the car and pulled away from the curb.

'Next time, park closer to the house though.' Abby said, wiping the rain off her face.

Stephen glanced at her, his blue eyes hidden in shadow.

'Next time?' he asked her.

'You know what I mean...'

'We're driving by the ARC to pick up Connor and Sarah. Nick, Jenny and Becker have already left.'

'We're picking up Sarah?' Abby asked apprehensively.

'Yes, don't worry. She'll be professional.'

'Right...' Abby crossed her arms. 'You never considered...' she left the question hanging.

'Considered what?'

'You know ... getting together with her?'

'No.' Stephen gave a little humourous laugh. 'Not that she'd want to now.'

'What?' Abby asked, confused. 'Why not?'

'Eh, long story.'

'What, there was more to it than you forgetting who she was?'

'Yes, there was.'

'Well...' Abby twisted in her seat to face him. 'I'm waiting.'

Stephen looked at her and smiled, the expression on her face was very much like the old Abby who wouldn't take no for an answer. He would tell her, he would have to if he ever wanted to gain her trust. But she wouldn't like it. His Abby hadn't liked it either, but she had understood. 'Another time, maybe.'

They spent the rest of the drive in silence. Connor and Sarah were waiting outside the building when they arrived half an hour later.

'All right Abby!' Connor said enthusiastically when he climbed in the back. He held out his fist and Abby bumped it reluctantly.

'What is _she_ doing here?' Sarah demanded when she slammed the door shut.

'We happened to be talking when the call came,' Stephen told her and turned the car around.

'At half past eleven at night? Right.' Sarah snorted and leaned forward. 'Do you even know who you are letting yourself in with?' she said harshly to Abby.

'Now is not the time Sarah,' Stephen said before Abby could answer. 'Give us a heads up Connor.'

'Ehm, right. The ADD detected an anomaly half an hour ago near the Royal City Musical Theatre. Well, _in_ the theatre to be exact. The professor set off with the others when he called you so they should be there by now.'

Connor caught Stephen's gaze in the rear view mirror.

'Well?' he said.

'Well what?' Connor asked him.

'Don't you think you should call them to ask if they found anything?'

'Oh, right!' Connor started to pat down all his pockets, looking for his phone.

'I'll call them,' Sarah said with a note of exasperation in her voice.

Abby leaned closer to Stephen. 'The ADD?' she asked incredulously.

'Yes,' Stephen grinned. 'In case of the computer it stands for Anomaly Detection Devise. In case of Connor it is definitely the Attention thing.'

'Oy!' Connor said, leaning in between the front seats when Abby laughed. 'I can hear you, you know! Besides, ADD is a sign of an overactive brain so that'll be why I'm so clever!' he beamed at Abby.

'They found the anomaly,' Sarah interrupted, snapping her phone shut. 'But they don't know if anything came through. The building is out of power, we'll need our flashlights.'

'We're here,' Stephen said, pulling up to the curb and popping open the boot. He gave Sarah a gun and Connor a flashlight. 'You two take the top floor. We'll take the basement. Work your way down, we'll meet in the middle.'

'Can I have gun?' Connor asked.

'No!' Sarah and Stephen said in unison.

'Hey guys.' Captain Becker stepped out of the shadows, resting a huge riffle on his hip, the barrel pointing toward the sky. 'Hi Abby,' he said, when he saw her. 'Nice of you to join us.'

'Come on,' Sarah said to him, dragging Connor along.

'No, I think I'll stick with these guys.' Becker grinned at Abby. Sarah gave him a disgusted glare and walked into the theatre.

'Here Abby, take a flashlight.' Stephen handed her a large maglite, slid a large serrated knife into his boot, grabbed his own light and turned to lock the car when Becker stopped him.

'Aren't you going to give Abby a weapon?' he asked.

Stephen straightened. 'Abby will be safe with me.'

'I'm sure she'll be safe with both of us,' the Captain said. 'But why take the chance?'

'It's okay,' Abby said quickly. 'I don't really want a weapon.'

'If you're sure,' Captain Becker said. 'Just stick with me and you'll be fine.'

Abby glanced at Stephen whose expression could have been carved from stone.

'Right,' she said with a big, fake smile. 'Shall we?'

'I'll go first,' both the Captain and Stephen said together. Stephen glared at Becker, his jaw visibly stiffening and pushed passed both of them.

'Bring on the dinosaurs, fast.' Abby muttered, falling in behind him.

The darkness became more and more stiffening as they descended the stairs to the basement. Their light cast eerie shadows down the halls and slightly stale air wafted up from below. They searched every room, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

'Something really smells down here though,' Abby said when the Captain suggested they go find the others.

'Hmm,' Stephen agreed. 'Like something died. I'm going to look around a bit more.' He looked at Abby expectantly and she noticed Becker was doing the same.

'Oh. Ehm, I'll go back upstairs too if you don't mind Steve. Basements are very cosy and everything but I need some air.'

'Sure,' he said, and without another word he disappeared into the darkness.

'Be careful!' she called after him.

'Come on,' Becker said. 'Let's get out of here.'

They climbed the stairs together and Abby sucked in every breath of fresh air gratefully. The smell had snuck up on them so slowly, she hadn't realized how bad it was until they were back on the ground floor.

'So you decided to join us then did you?' the Captain said, leading the way into the hall.

'No not really, Steve happened to be at my house when he got the call.'

Becker gave her a meaningful look. 'He was at your house tonight?'

'Yes. To talk! Nothing more... What is your first name by the way? I'm pretty sure it isn't Captain.'

Becker turned around so abruptly, Abby nearly ran into him. 'If I told you that, I'd have to kill you...' he said grinning widely.

'Captain it is then.'

Becker pulled open the double doors revealing the stairs that would lead them to the balcony. When they reached the top they started to go around toward the end where the private boxes were but they saw no one.

'Where is everyone?' Abby asked when they had finished the large semi circle.

'I don't know...' Becker said. 'Come on, let's go back down.' He ran down the stairs, in between the seats and the orchestra and then up the stage with Abby in tow. Large velvet curtains hung heavily to the side, the black polished wood shining beneath their feet.

'Nothing,' he said. 'Very strange.' He fished his phone out of his jacket while Abby went on snooping back stage. She lifted one of the curtains to the side and shone her flashlight into the small corridor. Her breath caught sharply in her throat.

'Ehm... Captain?' she said, slowly retreating to where he was standing.'

'The others are below the stage,' he said. 'That is where the...'

'Becker... please tell me that is a prop.'

The Captain spun on his heels and swore beneath his breath.

'It's not...'

'Do you think it's...'

The beast lunged and Abby screamed. It's wide maw stretched to reveal sharp fangs with thick strands of saliva dripping down. It moved so fast on its long arms and grotesque feet it was almost a blur. Becker grabbed the back of her coat dragging her behind him and fired his gun. Instantly, the creature was gone.

'You weren't going to say dangerous by any chance, were you?' he whispered, moving his gun methodically around the room, scanning every corner.

'I was actually... can you please let go of me? You're kind of strangling me.'

'God, I'm sorry.' The Captain quickly released Abby. 'Stay close, we need to find the others.'

'Didn't you get it?' she asked him.

'No, it takes more than one shot to take one of those bastards out. I was really hoping I'd never have to see one of them again.'

'What was that thing? I mean, I am no dino - expert but that didn't look like any picture in any book I've ever seen...'

'It wasn't. It's from the future.'

'What?'

'Yes. We've only encountered them once before, this is very bad news. Now be quiet, they hunt by sound.' Before they could move, the doors of the theatre flew open and heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs.

'Put down your torches!' Becker ordered in a hiss. 'You're blinding us.'

'Sorry,' Connor said.

'What was the gunshot?' Sarah asked.

'We have one of the future predators on our hands.' Becker told them in a whisper. 'So we have to be very quiet. And keep your eyes on the ceiling too, it could be anywhere.'

'But what is this beast?' Abby asked again.

'You must be Abby,' someone said. A man with blond hair and friendly eyes stepped into the light. 'Yes you look like her.' He smiled and held out his hand. 'I'm Nick Cutter. Stephen showed me your picture.'

'It's not... my picture, really.'

'Can we do this some other time?' Sarah hissed.

'Where is Stephen?' Connor asked.

'He's not with you yet?' Becker demanded.

'No we thought he was with you!' Jenny now stepped into the circle of light, nervously scanning the ceiling with her flashlight.

'Oh no!' Abby exclaimed. 'He is still in the basement!' She sprinted off before anyone could stop her.

'No!' the Captain and Connor yelled. Becker was about to go after her but Cutter stopped him.

'No one goes off alone again!' he said. 'Sarah, go with him.'

'I'm not going after her!' Sarah said.

'You'll do as I say, now go!'


	9. Chapter 9

~Chapter 9: the return ~

Stephen dragged himself as quietly as he could to the wall but couldn't prevent a soft groan escaping between his gritted teeth. With an enormous effort he managed to pull up his right knee and rest his weapon on it. The torch lay too far to reach, its light spilling across the floor in a white beacon. It had been knocked from his hands when the beast had lunged and now it showed his left leg stretched out before him in a limp, bloody mess. He had been fast, but not fast enough and now the beast was injured and angrier than ever. One more shot was all he needed. If he could take it down before he bled to death at least he would save the others. Save Abby. He swallowed hard and tried to think past the unbearable burning pain that swept through him. For so long he had been obsessed with finding her, he never had given it any thought what would happen when he did. Of course she didn't know him. Of course she wouldn't fall into his arms. And now he had involved her in all this, against her will. And yet... he couldn't shake the feeling he had righted something. Something that had been off ever since he had returned from the damned chase through the portal that had changed time forever. It wasn't just knowing Abby was in his life again, it was more than that. He was on to something, if he could only... Stephen held his breath. A soft shuffling noise came from the hallway. Could it be the predator? Surely not, it was stealthy, deadly even when wounded. This new creature was unsure of its footing, creeping around as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.

Abby had turned off her flashlight when she had reached the top of the basement steps which she was now slowly descending, her hand resting on the wall while her feet felt their way down one step at a time. She should never have left him there all by himself, how could she have been so stupid! Yes, so he scared her a little. The way he looked at her, as if he knew things about her no one else did. As if they had shared secrets in the small hours of the morning. As if they had talked and talked until they had fallen asleep. But that didn't mean she should have abandoned him. She was better than that. Abby had just reached the bottom step when suddenly something grabbed her from behind and dragged her into a dark room. Abby uttered a muffled yell and lashed out, hitting something solid with her maglite before a heavy blow to her temple knocked her to the floor. She could feel something thick and hot trickle down her face and neck before the darkness filled her vision.

'No!' Stephen yelled, hearing the struggle. He tried to stand but sunk to one knee with a cry of pain. 'Abby!'

'Stephen where are you?' Becker yelled while running down the steps.

'In here! But something has Abby! Find her!'

Sarah and the Captain rushed into the room where Stephen lay on the floor.

'Oh my God!' Sarah gasped, 'What happened?'

'The predator,' he said through gritted teeth. 'It has Abby, but it's wounded - she may still be alive. Find her!'

'We need to get you out of here,' Becker said. 'You are bleeding to death.'

'It doesn't matter,' Stephen gasped, sinking back to the wall. 'Find her Becker, please.'

Sarah took a deep breath and straightened her back. 'You take him up Captain, and tie up that leg wound. Then come back for me. I'll look for Abby.'

'We're not supposed to split up,' Becker told her.

'I'll write lines later,' she told him.

'Here,' he handed her his riffle. 'Be careful. Stephen, this is going to hurt.'

Stephen grimaced when Becker lifted him to his feet and they started to make their way to the stairs.

'I can't believe I'm doing this,' Sarah muttered, riffle in one hand and flashlight in the other. She crept along the walls of the room, crouching, listening for any sound of Abby or the creature. A soft tapping sound made her turn to the room near the stairs. She dimmed the light of the torch and stealthily eased forward. Sarah bit her lip at the sight that met her there. The girl was on the floor, unconscious by the looks of it - or dead, Sarah didn't know. What she did know was that the predator crept nearer to the prone girl, obviously equally doubtful over her condition. It reached Abby, stretching out on awful taloned claw. Sarah didn't hesitate and fired six consecutive shots straight into its chest. It howled an earsplitting screech and collapsed, right on top of Abby.

'Sarah!' Connor yelled, his footsteps thundering down the stairs. 'Sarah you all right?'

'In here!' she yelled back and Nick and Connor sprinted into the room.

'Help me get it off her, I think she's alive.' The three of them heaved and pulled at the dead beast until Abby was finally free. She still didn't move but her eyes flickered.

'Oh, she's alive.' Connor said with a laugh of relief. 'Well done Sarah!'

'Thanks.'

'Let's carefully carry her upstairs, our ambulance is picking up Stephen too.' 

'Why can't we go through _one_ day without any of you getting injured?' Lester asked as he walked in and closed the door behind him. 'It would be _so_ nice to have more than four hours sleep at least once a week.'

'It's not like we're doing it on purpose,' Connor told him, walking away from the window and taking a seat across the table from Jenny and Nick.

'You could've fooled me...'

'How are they?' Jenny asked.

'They'll live. You got Stephen back out of there just in time. It was a good call to set up a hospital wing here Jenny. Lord knows we were running out of excuses for poisonous bites, severed limbs and dinosaur germs. Stephen won't be able to run his thirty miles a week for quite a while but they assured me he'll be fine.'

'Good. What about the girl?' Nick asked.

'She'll be fine too. Just a bump on the head.'

'Yes but what will we do with her? Is she joining the team?'

'Do you think she'll be useful?'

Jenny rose from her seat and walked to the window that looked over the circular room containing the ADD. 'I think it might be useful to have someone with more than basic first aid knowledge in the field.'

'True,' Nick said. 'But what effect will it have on Stephen? Will it affect his work?'

'It is affecting him already, whether she is here or not.'

'I say you can never have enough chicks on the job!' Connor interjected with a grin. 'Especially pretty ones. Especially pretty young ones. Not that you're not pretty Jenny. Or young, I mean...'

'Yes, very helpful Mister Temple.' Lester told him, rolling his eyes. 'I'll leave it up to you Cutter.'

'Sarah might be a problem,' Jenny said.

'I'll deal with Sarah,' Nick told her.

'We may have another problem though.' All three of them turned to Connor. 'Another one? Well let's have it. Heaven forbid we have a dull night.' Lester said in a fatigued sort of tone.

'The anomaly wasn't from the future. It was from the past. Ice age to be exact, don't know which one. It was a bit too cold to stick around, didn't have my thermals on.'

Nick leaned back in his chair, his eyes wide. 'So no way the creature came from there?'

'Nope.' Connor rubbed his eyes sleepily.

'That means it was already here.' Lester concluded.

'From a different anomaly? The ADD didn't pick anything up.'

'Or someone brought it here.'

'What do you mean Jenny?' Cutter looked at her and Jenny went to stand beside him, her hand on his shoulder.

'I'm sorry Nick. I had the blood on Abby's flashlight examined. It wasn't the predator's. It was Helen's.'


	10. Chapter 10

~Chapter 10: the intruder ~

Abby pushed against the door and it opened with a soft creak. Stephen lay in the hospital bed, an IV line steadily dripping blood into his left arm. His eyes were closed and he was breathing evenly. He was asleep. Abby crept into his room and sat down in the chair beside him. She knew how lucky he was to be alive. She knew how lucky _she_ was to be alive. Do I want this to be my everyday existence, she asked herself. Do I want to constantly fear for my life and that of others? But even if she walked away now, she would always know that these people were here, risking themselves every day so others could live in blissful ignorance. She would always wonder how they were, how Stephen was. And she also knew this was the only way to find out what happened to her family.

Stephen twitched, his eyes rolling under their lids. Not really thinking about what she was doing, Abby took his hand in hers. He had completely changed her life. If he had never shown up on her doorstep, she would have been one of those blissfully ignorant people. There was only one option, one thing she could do.

Abby rose to her feet but the hand that was still in hers squeezed gently.

'Don't go,' Stephen whispered weakly.

'Steve, how do you feel?' Abby asked him, leaning closer. His blue eyes had lost some of their sparkle.

'Like a vicious predator mauled my leg,' he said. Stephen tried to grin but it quickly turned into a grimace as he tried to sit up.

'Shh, lie still.' Abby told him, softly stroking back the hair that stuck to his forehead.

'Connor told me you came after me.'

'Yeah, I felt bad ... I'm sorry, I should never have left you down there by yourself.'

'It's not your fault Abby.' Stephen entwined his finger with hers and reached for her face with his other hand. 'I thought the beast had you... for a second I...'

The door swung open. 'Ready to go Abs?'

'Becker,' Stephen said, dropping his hand.

'Yeah, just a minute...' Abby smiled apologetically at Stephen. 'The Captain is giving me a lift home.'

'Sure.'

'Don't worry, I have to go back to the theatre after that. We have to sweep the entire place again. They found evidence Helen was there, we need to know if she left any tracks.

'Helen?' Stephen sat up but let out a cry and Abby grabbed his shoulders, gently lowering him down again.

'Steve, you need be careful!' she told him.

'Abby, I need to tell you something.'

'It can wait, you need to rest and so do I. I will come and see you soon okay?'

'All right,' Stephen said. His face was pale and beads of sweat welled on his forehead. 'Becker, put a guard at her door tonight and give Abby a weapon.'

'What?'

'Just do it, please.' Stephen groaned with pain.

'He needs more pain meds,' Abby said and disappeared out of the door to look for a doctor.

'Stephen what are you on about?' The Captain stepped into the room and the door closed behind him.

'I think Helen is after Abby.'

'Yeah we know, it was her blood on the maglite. Abby managed to whack her with it pretty hard.'

'So she's injured?'

'I'd say so, yeah.'

'Damn it.'

'Stephen, what is going on?' Becker straightened, his dark eyes glowing.

'I don't know, all right? I haven't figured it out yet. Just, make sure she's not alone tonight.'

Becker's face split into a grin. 'That can be arranged.'

Stephen tried to sit up again but the door opened and the doctor stepped in.

'Right Mister Hart, I think it is time for some more pain management and maybe something to help you sleep?'

Stephen started to protest but the needle disappeared in the IV before he could speak. From the door Abby gave him a smile and a little wave as Becker placed a hand on her shoulder, guiding her out. Stephen's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts one second and a black abyss the next.

A soft thud above her head awoke Abby and she veered up in her bed. She had refused to take Becker's gun and had sent the guard home as soon as the Captain drove away. Her heart hammered in her chest while she wondered if that had been a mistake. Abby pulled a t-shirt over her head, quietly opened her bedroom door and crept up the stairs. A rustling noise coming from the living room made her freeze into place. She waited several seconds, cursing herself inwardly for leaving her phone in her jeans and on the bathroom floor. When no other sound could be heard than her own irregular breathing, Abby continued climbing the stairs. A streetlamp cast a little light into the living room and she could see someone there, lying on her couch! When she edged closer, she recognized Captain Becker. One leg swung carelessly off the armrest, an arm hung limply to the ground - probably what caused the thud, she thought. The other arm lay above his head, his hair a hot mess. Soft snoring sounds came from his slightly open mouth. Unbelievable, thought Abby. _Unbelievable!_ She spun around and tiptoed away.

'What the f...!' Becker jumped off the sofa, his face and hair dripping with cold water. 'Abby!' he complained. 'What'd you do that for?'

She stood with her arms crossed, an empty glass in one hand, her lips pursed.

'What?' he asked, wiping his face with his sleeve.

'Care to tell me what you are doing here?'

'I drove passed the house on my way home to check on the guard and noticed he was gone, so I thought something happened and came in to check. Nice... t-shirt by the way.'

'Ever heard of a _phone_ Becker?' Abby snapped while pulling the t-shirt down as far as it would go.

'Yes, actually and as usual you didn't answer.'

'Oh.'

'So, I kind of broke in, found you asleep and thought I may as well stay.'

'I see. Break into girls' houses often do you?'

'Only yours babe. What time is it?'

'Six in the morning,' Abby yawned.

'Let's get two more hours in while we can. We'll have to go into the ARC later, we found something at the theatre.'

'Oh? What?' Abby felt suddenly more awake but Becker yawned widely in turn.

'Tell you about it later. Any chance I can get in with you? Bit chilly here...' The Captain gave Abby a cheeky grin.

'No chance,' she told him. 'I'll get you a blanket.'

'But the couch is all wet...'

'Too bad.'


	11. Chapter 11

~Chapter 11: one truth ~

'Do we have to do this in here?' Stephen grimaced as he pulled himself up in the bed. Jenny walked over to him, fluffed up his pillow and straightened his sheets. 'Do you want to know what is happening or not?'

'Well yes, but can't I just come to the conference room?'

'Stephen Hart, you sound like a sulky little boy.' Stephen gave Jenny a dark look. She sat down in the chair beside him and patted his hand.

'Have you told her yet?'

'Told who what?' he asked, trying to sound less moody and failing.

'Told Abby how it was between you before... the timeline changed.'

'No, I haven't.'

'Maybe you should, it might take a load off your shoulders.'

'What do you want me to say? Hey Abby, I know none of this actually happened to you, but I actually asked you to marry me a year ago, right before I went through the portal. You told me you'd give me an answer as soon as I came back, so what do you think?' Stephen snorted. 'Something like that?'

'Well, not in so many words...'

'You'd say it in less?'

'No, no more words you know... soften the blow a little.'

Stephen arched an eyebrow. 'The blow of being engaged to me?'

'Oh dear, no I didn't mean it like that!' Jenny smiled, stood and poured him a glass of water. 'You know, ease her into it. Warm her up a little before you tell her the awful truth.'

'Thanks Jenny... you really cheered me up.'

'Excellent. Here they come,' Jenny said and she opened the door to Stephen's hospital room. Sarah, Nick and Connor strolled in, each carrying a fold up chair.

'Hey Stephen, how you feeling? Nice legs.' Connor told him, patting Stephen's bandage.

'Keep your hands off me Temple,' Stephen said his face briefly twisting in pain.

'Oh right, sorry mate.'

'Stephen, good to see you are doing better.' Nick said. 'Abby and Becker are on their way.

'Together,' Sarah added, looking slightly smug.

'That'll do Sarah.' Nick said before Stephen could answer. 

'Abby! Abby wait! I didn't mean anything by it!'

Abby stalked up the ramp to the hospital wing where they would be meeting the others, but at Becker's words she swung around and faced him. 'It didn't mean anything? You _kissed_ me!'

'Well yes,' the Captain grinned a little foolishly. 'It isn't every day you meet a girl who can step through time, kill a creature in cold blood and save a man's life by shoving a tube in his chest. And who is very hot on top of all that. I just couldn't help myself.'

'That is beside the p... you think I'm hot?'

Becker stepped closer. 'Very.' He reached for her face but she slapped his hand away.

'Still, it was inappropriate.'

'But you liked it, admit it.'

'Are you kidding me? That was the lamest kiss ever.' Abby dropped her voice, imitating the Captain's. 'Hang on, you have a little smudge on your face... Seriously.'

'I still say you liked it.'

'Even if I did, don't try it again, and don't you _dare_ tell the others.'

'Mmm... can't promise you that.'

'Fine... have it your way.' Abby smiled sweetly and stepped closer to Becker. His eyes widened in surprise when she looked up at him, her blue eyes twinkling. He bent down and Abby's smile widened. His mouth was about to close over hers when she whispered; 'Hilary.'

Becker froze. 'What... how?'

Abby patted his cheek sharply. 'Next time you break into a girl's house and fall asleep, don't leave your jacket with your wallet lying around.' She spun on her heels and stalked away. The Captain stood stunned for a moment, before shaking his head and walking after her.

'Ah good, here you are.' Nick rose to his feet.

'Hi everyone, hey Stephen.'

'Hello Abby.'

'Right, Becker please come in and Connor whenever you are ready...'

Abby sat down in the chair beside Stephen's bed and the Captain went to lean against the window. Connor rose to his feet, pulling a strange device out of his pocket.

'Okay, well Becker and his team found this in the room where Abby lay unconscious last night.' He held it up for all to see.

'What is it?' Sarah asked.

'I'm not sure yet. But since there was no other way out of that room except passed you Sarah, this might have something to do with how the ... ehm attacker,' he glanced at Nick. 'Managed to leave the room unseen.'

'What do you think it does?' Stephen asked.

'No idea. I'm pretty sure it is from the future. It is technology I've never seen before. I have no way of knowing before I've done some tests but it wouldn't surprise me if this has something to do with opening anomalies.'

'What? At will?' the Professor demanded.

'Well yeah, think about it.' Connor started to pace the room. 'We get an alert for an anomaly, right? So we go to the theatre. There is a predator present but it can't have come through the portal because that leads to an ice age. With me so far? Good. Now, what if ... someone knew that anomaly was going to appear. Of course that same someone would also know we'd go and check it out, we always do. Once we arrive, that someone ...'

'You mean Helen,' Jenny cut in.

'All right, Helen. She opens a second anomaly in the theatre, cloaks it somehow so the ADD doesn't pick it up and allows the predator to come through.'

'Why would this Helen try to kill you guys?' Abby asked.

'Not 'you guys'.' Stephen said, his voice low. 'You.'

'Me?' Abby demanded.

'Yes,' Jenny frowned. 'It can't be a coincidence that we don't hear from Helen for an entire year and as soon as you are in the picture, she is back.'

'But why is she after me? And how did she get away if she dropped that thing?'

'I don't know, that is what we have to figure out.'

'Connor,' Cutter rose to his feet. 'How long before you can get that thing to work?'

'I don't know, a few days at the most.'

'Good, get started. Jenny, I need you to come up with an explanation why Abby isn't going to be in work for a few days. Becker, organize a security detail so we have someone at Abby's house at all times. Sarah, Stephen I want you to stay here for a moment. You too Abby, we need to talk.'

'I'm not going anywhere,' Stephen said with a smile. He felt relief now that they had taken the threat toward Abby seriously. It subsided a little though, when he saw Becker wink at Abby before leaving the room.

'Right,' Cutter began when the others left. 'We all know this is a delicate situation. Sarah, this has all been very hard on you I know that.'

'I'm perfectly fine.'

'No you are not. You have been walking around like a cat facing a cold bath for days now. I need to know I can trust you all. Lives depend on it. If Abby will accept, she can be a part of this team from now on. I need to know you and Stephen can be professional about this.'

'Has he told her the truth yet?' Sarah demanded.

'That is neither here nor there Sarah,' Cutter told her warningly.

'What truth?' Abby asked.

'I will explain Abby,' Stephen said, holding up a hand. 'Just give me...'

But Sarah wasn't listening. 'You want her to find out like I did? How can you be so calm about it, she was your _wife_!' she yelled at Nick.

'It is of no importance now Sarah.'

'Will someone tell me what you are on about?' Abby demanded.

Nick turned to Abby. 'That is between you and ...'

'I'll tell you. I'll tell you exactly what happened.'

'Sarah no!' Stephen said but she waved him away.

'A year ago Helen sent us all on a goose chase after imaginary saber tooth tigers so she could escape through a portal that leads to hundreds of others. But she didn't disappear through it before telling us that Stephen and her high and mighty self used to sleep together, while she was married to his best friend!' Sarah's voice rose higher and higher, her face contorted with anger. 'And as if that isn't enough to find out from your _fiance_, he runs after her into the anomaly only to return five minutes later claiming he ...' Sarah's voice broke and she fell silent. A thick tear ran down her face and she looked at Stephen for the first time. 'Claiming he doesn't know who I am. We were going to get married Stephen,' she told him, a soft sob escaping her lips. 'We had gone to choose the wedding cake only that morning. I already had the dress... How could you, how _could_ you!'

'Sarah...'

'Leave me alone.'

Sarah covered her mouth with one hand, turned to the door and ran through it. A heavy silence fell over the room.

'I'm sorry Nick,' Stephen whispered.

'It's all right. It was a long time ago.' The Professor looked at Abby. 'Don't judge him too harshly,' he said as if Stephen wasn't in the room. 'He was young, he was influenceable and Helen was and still is a manipulating bitch. He made a mistake, he is sorry, he doesn't deserve to be punished for it for the rest of his life.' Cutter patted Abby on the shoulder and left them.

'You must loathe me,' Stephen said quietly, breaking the silence that had lasted too long. Abby turned away from the window and came to sit beside him again.

'No,' she said. 'It is like the Professor said. Everyone makes mistakes. I don't like it very much...' She gave him a weak smile. 'But I understand. I feel sorry for Sarah though.'

'I know, I probably didn't handle it well at the time either. I thought the world had gone mad you see, I didn't take the time to recognize how she felt. Although I can imagine it now...' He looked at her.

'Becker kissed me,' Abby blurted out and her cheeks flushed. Stephen's face went through a whole range of emotions in seconds but it settled on resignation.

'I see.'

'I threatened to tell everyone his first name if he tried it again,' she told him.

'I see!' Stephen repeated, looking slightly happier. And then his eyes widened. 'You know his first name? What is it?'

Abby laughed. 'Power over Captain Becker is what it is and I am not giving it up that easily. I will come and see you soon okay? I need to talk to Connor.' She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

'Abby.' Stephen grabbed her hand and pulled her back. 'If Connor is right and the device can open anomalies at will, you can't go back and undo the past.'

Abby said nothing, but her eyes grew a little cold.

'You don't know what you will influence if you do Abby.'

'You knew the other me,' she said defiantly. 'She was fine wasn't she?'

'Yes, she was. But I always did wonder why she never mentioned her family. There must have been a reason. Just... think about it. Please.'

'I will,' she said and disappeared out of the door.

Somehow Stephen knew that wasn't the last of it.


	12. Chapter 12

~Chapter 12: the moment ~

Abby stared at the pass Cutter had given her. It had been in her possession less than a week and she was abusing it already. Her own face stared back at her, blue eyes squinting against the flash of the camera, smile a little lopsided. 'What am I doing?' she whispered to herself. She held the keycard hovering above the lock, hesitated a moment and then soundlessly slid it through. The large glass doors opened and Abby slipped inside. Her plan was to walk purposely to where she needed to be, that way she would arouse the least suspicion. Even though it was the middle of the night, she knew there would be people at the ARC, watching the ADD for possible anomalies. The first difficulty would be to pass the guard at the entrance. She walked up to him now, smiling.

'Hi,' she said, showing him her id card. 'How are you?'

'Fine thank you, can I help you?'

'Couldn't sleep, to be honest.' She leaned forward. 'Actually... I came to see Stephen. I need ...' she hesitated, hoping she wasn't laying it on too thick. 'I need to talk to him.'

The guard took one look at her pleading face and smiled, 'All right lass, off you go,' he said and waved her through.

'Thanks!' Abby said. 'Don't tell anyone, yeah?'

'Yeah, yeah.' He went back to watching his small television.

Abby exhaled slowly. Now, on to the next part. She hurried through the empty corridor. If someone caught her in the armory, she would just tell them she took the wrong door but the room was empty. She stripped out of her jacket, jeans and t-shirt and changed into the uniform they had given her when she officially joined the team last week. After stuffing a gun in the black belt, a flashlight and a compass in the wide pockets of her black combats and a knife in her boots, Abby quickly left the room again. If someone saw her now, she'd have a much harder time to explain what she was doing.

She couldn't believe her luck when she found Lester's office unlocked and the device lying openly on his desk. Abby picked it up and stared at it for a long time. Was she really going to do this? Did she have a choice? She took a deep breath and whispered; 'I'm sorry Steve.'

'Don't be.'

Abby almost dropped the device when she spun around. Stephen stood leaning in the doorway, a crutch propped under his right arm.

'I'm coming with you Abby.'

'Steve, how did you...'

He smiled. 'You forget I know you a lot better than you think. From the moment Connor told us he had it working, I knew you would try. I also know why you _have_ to try and that is why I am coming with you, I won't allow you to go alone.'

'Steve you can't, you can barely walk.' Abby protested, indicating his injured leg.

'I don't care.' He hobbled into the room, his blue eyes captivating hers. 'I'm not letting you out of my sight.'

'You can't go with me Steve it might all be...'

'A trap.' He nodded. 'You figured that out?'

Abby sighed. 'Yeah. Why else would the device be set to the date my parents disappeared?'

'But you are still going.' It wasn't a question and Abby just nodded. 'I'm going with you.'

'I won't let you.' Abby walked passed him, meaning to leave the room but Stephen grabbed her arm with his free hand, spinning her around. He knotted the same hand in her hair, pulling her close and kissed her.

'I love you Abby Maitland,' he said looking down into her eyes. 'I know you don't love me yet but you will. And I won't lose you again. I'm going with you whether you want me to or not.'

Abby swallowed, feeling slightly dizzy. She put her hand on his chest to put a some distance between them. 'Alright,' she said a little hoarsely. 'But don't try anything heroic. I want to be able to get to know you ... now that you found me.'

Stephen smiled at her. 'I need you to do one thing for me,' he said.

'What?'

His smile broke into a grin. 'I need you to tie my left shoe.'

Abby laughed and bent down. 'You'll have to tell me that story once.'

'I will, when we come back.'

Abby looked up. 'There, all done.'

'You have beautiful eyes Abby.'

'Thanks,' she mumbled while straightening. 'Shall we?'

'Whenever you are ready.'

Abby took Stephen's hand in hers and pressed the button on the devise. Instantly an anomaly appeared in the middle of Lester's office.

'Here goes nothing,' Abby said, and they both stepped through.


	13. Chapter 13

~Chapter 13: the other truth ~

'What the hell? It didn't work!' Abby said, looking around Lester's office and back at the device. 'Why didn't it work?'

'I think it did Abby...' Stephen said and something in his voice made her join him at the window overlooking the circular room below.

'Oh my God,' she whispered, horrified.

'We are in the same place but a different time.'

Instead of an ADD or any other equipment, there were cages. At least twenty of them, each and every one with a predator in it.

'Those are the same as the beast we saw in the theatre, aren't they?'

'Yes. Shit, Abby we need to get out of here.'

'I think it is too late for that now Stephen my love.' A figure stood leaning casually against the doorway. 'How sweet of you to want to protect your little Abby as injured as you are.'

'Helen.' Stephen said softly.

'Yes, I was hoping dear Abby would walk into my little trap alone.' Helen smiled apologetically and stepped into the room. 'I really didn't want to have to kill you Stephen. I always have had a soft spot for you. You kept me warm at night when I was so lonely.' Helen drew her gun at the same time Abby did.

'Abby don't.' Stephen warned her, taking a wobbly step forward.

'Tut tut - stay where you are Stephen, I know you always have a whole array of weapons hidden on you. We might have some fun later trying to locate them if you want. Do you still have that birthmark on your...?'

'Where are my parents, you hag!' Abby yelled, her face pale with barely suppressed anger. Her voice shook, but her hands were steady and dry.

'Oh, didn't you know?' Helen said in mock concern keeping her weapon pointed at Stephen. 'They went on a camping trip years ago. Yes,' she continued conversationally. 'They took a little holiday. To 150 million years in the past to be exact. It is where I ended up by accident the first time. I nearly died there. Unfortunately your parents didn't last very long. It's a shame you know, you really should be prepared for anything when you go camping in the wild. Especially when there are large carnivorous dinosaurs around.'

'Why?' Abby demanded, her voice breaking. She blinked furiously to avoid her vision clouding over with tears.

'Well you see... I stumbled on a future, not far from your present actually, and I found a file in this very office where it stated Abby Maitland had killed Helen Cutter in a gun fight. Now I couldn't let that happen, could I? I have things to do.'

'What things?' Stephen said. 'What on earth do you think it is you are doing? Setting predators loose on the world? Kidnapping innocent people and leaving them to die in the past? Helen, you have gone insane.'

Helen turned sharply toward Stephen. 'That,' she said, her face contorted with hate. 'Was not very nice.' She suddenly kicked out, hitting Stephen straight on his injury and he collapsed to the ground with an loud cry.

'Steve!' Abby yelled and crouched beside him. 'Steve you are bleeding.'

'I'm f...fine, Abby. Go through the anomaly,' he whispered, pressing on the wound, blood already seeping through his trousers and between his fingers. 'I'll distract her.'

'No,' Abby said and straightened, pointing her gun back at Helen.

'So why _are_ you doing al this?' she asked.

Helen strolled casually to the window turning away from Abby, unconcerned about the weapon aimed at her back. 'See those things?' she said, pointing down. 'Out there? They are your fault.'

'My fault? That is crazy!'

'Well, maybe not _your_ fault specifically. It is the ARC's fault. See, the anomalies will become more frequent in the future. The beasts spilling through becoming more and more difficult to hide and send back. So the ARC creates its own creature, thinking if they are in control of a fighting force that can match the strength of the most vicious dinosaur, mankind will be safe. The only thing is...' Helen turned back to them, her eyes hard and cold. 'They lose control Abby. They lose control of these unstoppable animals. These creatures, more intelligent than any beast on earth. More agile, more deadly. You know what happens Abby?'

She waited and Abby shook her head.

'I know,' Helen whispered, her eyes half closing and her face darkening with shadows. 'I have seen it. I have seen the future where these beasts destroy the world, where they empty it of _every_ living being.' Her voice shook in dread. 'Until there is nothing left. Nothing but a dry, smoking world. I was all alone.' Helen no longer saw them. 'So alone.'

'But why...' Abby swallowed hard and glanced at Stephen who was trying to rise to his feet. 'Why take my parents? Why did they have to die? Why didn't you just take me?'

'I think I can answer that,' Stephen said, leaning heavily on his crutch. Abby felt like crying when she saw the blood dripping down on the floor but she needed to keep her wits about her. She would get him out of there, she would save him if it was the last thing she did.

'Keep you mouth shut Stephen,' Helen threatened, lifting her gun again. The forlorn look had vanished from her face and her eyes were once again wide in madness.

'You see Abby, the one thing Helen ever really wanted, the one thing Cutter couldn't give her, was a baby.'

'I said, shut up Stephen!'

'You couldn't do it, could you?' he said, straightening. 'You couldn't take an innocent little girl and leave her to be eaten. You couldn't kill a baby, could you Helen? Because she made you think of the child you will never have.'

'I won't have any trouble finishing her now, Stephen. Or you.'

'Don't Helen, I will shoot you.' Abby said, stepping forward.

'No you won't. You are different from the other Abby. You were brought up differently, I figured that would be enough to change events to come. You are a nurse, you are supposed to preserve life not end it. The other Abby had a hard youth, from her I would believe she'd shoot. Well, from her I do believe it - she did kill me apparently. That is why I had to do this, take you away from all this, so I could finish my work and prevent these creatures from being made.'

'By sending them to the past to kill us all.'

'Yes, I went to the future and stole the technology to control them. Together with a couple of those.' Helen pointed at the device Abby was still clasping in her left hand. 'I left one behind on purpose that day you gave me this.' She turned her face and lifted her hair, revealing a nasty bruise on the side of her head. 'The gadget only needed a little tweaking to make you think it would send you back to the day your parents vanished. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist, just as I knew it would only be a matter of time before Stephen found you. So in a way my love, it is your fault Abby will die here today. As long as she was no part of this, she was safe.'

'But it didn't work, did it?' Abby interrupted. 'You sent two predators already and the ARC is still here.'

Helen laughed, a harsh chilling noise. 'There are twenty five more down there Abby, I can send one to each and every member of the ARC's bedroom if I wanted to.'

'We won't let you do it Helen,' Abby said. 'You won't get away with it.'

'Neither of you will walk away from here alive.'

'Don't do it Helen...' Stephen said, holding up a hand. 'You don't have to. Now that we know what these creatures will do, we can prevent it...'

Helen stepped forward and banged the desk hard with the flat of her hand. 'Don't make me laugh. When has humanity ever learnt from its past mistakes Stephen? What makes you think it will learn from a future mistake it hasn't made yet? No, I have to do this, I am sorry. You have given me no choice. You could have stayed away, you could have left Abby alone and you both could have lived.'

The look on Helen's face made Stephen's blood run cold. 'Helen!' He took a staggering step as she lifted the gun.

Abby moved without thinking, jumping in front of Stephen with her own weapon firmly in her right hand just as Helen pulled the trigger.

'No!' Stephen yelled, 'Abby!'

The sound of two guns firing filled the air with an explosive force. The noise was deafening and an unnatural silence occupied Abby's mind. She wondered what had shoved her back so roughly and why her legs felt suddenly weak. Her chest burned as the floor started to rise toward her in slow motion. It took her a moment to realize she was falling and for a daft second she thought the impact would hurt but instead the cold marble felt soothing against her cheek. A pair of arms folded around her and pulled her up.

'No, Abby,' someone was saying but the voice came from too far away. 'Please God no.'

Blue eyes swam into her vision briefly and Abby meant to say something. She _had_ to say something to this person holding her, but she couldn't think what or why. She felt as if she should be sorry, but then the blue eyes started to swim and the lights dimmed. An overwhelming calm came over her and then there was no room for anything else.


	14. Epilogue

~Epilogue~

'Mister Hart?'

* * *

'Stephen?'

* * *

'Stephen I really need to take a look at your leg now.' The nurse put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. 'Stephen,' she repeated when he didn't respond.

'I'm not leaving her.' He stared into nothing, his eyes clouded and dimmed.

'You are losing blood, I have to do something.'

'Then do it here.' He didn't care.

'Fine.' The young woman pulled a pair of scissors from a drawer, kneeled in front of him and started to cut open his bloodied trousers.

* * *

'You should have protected her!' The door flew open and banged against the wall. Captain Becker stormed into the room, Sarah close on his heels.

'Captain don't ...' she began, a hand on his arm but he shrugged it off.

'How could you let her go!' he yelled.

The nurse rose to her feet and brandished the pair of bloody scissors into Becker's face. 'If you don't keep your voice down _right now_,' she threatened. 'I will have you thrown in a cell Captain Becker make no mistake.' Without another glance at him she bent down again and finished cutting open Stephen's bandages. 'Give me that chair,' she told Becker without turning around. The Captain dragged the chair closer.

'Now help me lift his leg, carefully.'

Becker remained motionless.

'Oh for Heaven's sake,' Sarah said and she bent down to help the nurse. Stephen clenched his jaws.

'Are you sure you don't want anything for the pain?'

Stephen shook his head, the feverish light that had appeared in his eyes due to the pain already subsiding.

'This looks bad,' Sarah said, checking Stephen's wound.

'Yes, some of the stitches have torn, I will need to redo them.'

'No, just put a new bandage on it.'

'Mister Hart, really I...'

'Just do it!' he yelled.

'Stephen...' Sarah said, soothingly.

'Don't Sarah.'

'It's not your fault.'

'Yes it is,' the Captain said. 'He should have stopped her.'

'She would have gone anyway Becker, you know that. Stephen did the only thing he could do.'

'He should have prevented it,' Becker hissed. The nurse rose to her feet.

'I think you need to leave now.' She turned to Sarah. 'Get him out of here will you? Take him to a bar and get him drunk I don't care. Just make sure he leaves. He is upsetting my patient.' The nurse glanced over her shoulder, toward the bed. 'Both of them.'

Sarah took Becker by the arm and led him out. The nurse bent back down and continued cleaning Stephen's wound.

'Will she make it?' he whispered, his eyes on the still form in the bed. She looked so small. There were so many tubes. 'I can't bear to lose her again.'

'They managed to remove the bullet, it was touch and go for a moment.' The girl looked up but Stephen didn't see her. 'If she makes it through the next twenty four hours, she has a chance.'

'A chance...'

'It is better than nothing.'

The nurse worked on in silence, the beeping of the monitor the only sound in the hospital room. 'You should really get some rest Stephen...' she said when she finished.

'I am _not_ leaving her.'

* * *

Nick found Stephen the following morning, his head resting on Abby's bed. He placed a hand on his shoulder and Stephen jerked awake.

'Abby...'

'She's still here Stephen, why don't you go and clean up a little in the next room. I'll sit with her.'

'I don't want to...'

'Leave her, I know. I'll be right here, if something changes I will yell. You need to freshen up man, you smell.' Cutter grinned at Stephen and he gave him a weak smile but the light did not reach his eyes.

'All right.'

* * *

'What happened to Helen?' Connor whispered. The atmosphere in the room was tense, no one had spoken for a long time.

'She died an hour ago,' Jenny whispered.

'Good.' Becker said.

'You don't mean that,' Sarah hissed under her breath, her eyes on Nick.

'Yes I do.'

'It's all right Sarah,' the Professor told her. 'I know now Helen never cared for anyone but herself. She was mad.' He turned to Jenny and took her hand in his. 'I never knew what it was like to be really happy until I met you.'

* * *

'You don't all have to stay.'

The silence returned to the room as everyone exchanged glances. It was the first thing Stephen had said all day, his voice sounded tired and lifeless.

'We want to mate,' Connor told him. 'We all care about her.'

The door opened and a man in a white coat stepped inside. He walked over to Abby, checked the monitor, leaned over the pale still girl and straightened again. Stephen grabbed his wrist.

'How is she?'

'Fighting,' he said. He didn't smile or say anything else, he just walked away.

* * *

Night was falling and still nothing had changed. The others had gone and come back, each in turn. Stephen felt numb inside, and he tried as hard as he could to hang on to that. Because if he allowed himself to feel anything, he didn't know where it would take him, where it would end. They had changed her bandage once, and even though he had not been allowed to stay, he had seen the bloody wrappings when the nurses left. The sight of them had almost broken down the wall he had carefully started to draw around him from the moment the gunshots had ripped apart his very soul. It was an image that would be burned into his brain for ever. Abby lying on the ground, blood seeping through her shirt, the light in her eyes slowly dimming until they closed. He clung to that wall with all his might and deep down he knew he was preparing himself. Preparing himself for an empty life without her. But he couldn't give up. Not yet.

'Don't go Abby please,' he whispered, not caring who could hear him. 'I need you.'

* * *

Her hand twitched and Stephen awoke with a start. The lights in the room were dimmed and he could tell someone else was there but he didn't know who. A full moon filled the room with an eerie light.

'Abby?' he whispered. 'Abby can you hear me?'

As soon as he spoke Sarah and Cutter rose from their seats and came to stand beside him.

'Did she move?' Sarah asked.

'Her hand, she...'

'Look!' the Professor whispered. 'Her eyes are opening!'

* * *

The shadows started to disperse and faint colours filled her mind. She struggled, felt as if she was wading through deep mud. But what was she struggling for?

_Abby..._

There was that voice again, she needed to follow it. She needed to find it. The lights brightened and Abby blinked.

'Abby! Oh thank God!'

Large blue eyes looked into her own, moisture clinging to their thick eyelashes. The face came nearer and she felt soft lips press against hers.

'Mmm...' she mumbled. 'That's nice.'

The lips folded into a smile and a tear escaped from one blue eye.

'Abby...' the lips said, relief causing his voice to break. 'You will be fine. You are going to be fine.'

'That's good,' she said weakly.

The lips kissed her again. She was so tired, she wanted to sleep and her eyes wanted to close again but there was one thing she needed to ask first... what was it? Oh yes.

'Who are you?'

The End

?

* * *

'You lose everything

By the End

Still my broken limbs

You find time to mend'

The Editors.


End file.
